Trust and cooperation among urban poor for transition to cleaner and modern cooking fuel

A significant percentage of households in India still use firewood, kerosene and other biomass as cooking fuel. A survey on household energy consumption patterns in Hyderabad revealed that monthly expenditure of urban poor on firewood or kerosene is as much as the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinder. However, poorer households do not switch to LPG due to the high initial investments for an LPG connection. A pilot project was initiated to explore the viability of a community-based cooperative solution in pooling financial resources to meet these upfront investment costs and enable slum households to shift from kerosene and firewood to LPG. Two self-help groups were formed comprising 30 households each. The project enabled all 60 member households to obtain an LPG connection. This paper reiterates, through this pilot, that it is possible for communities themselves to come up with innovative and sustainable solutions for achieving common development goals.